Mandarin is the standard form of Chinese, although there are other dialects, eg Cantonese.

Useful phrases

1.pronunciation note

chá
- ch in chá, tea, is a bit like ch in ’cheap’ but with the mouth in a round shape.
 
érzi
- i as in érzi is very different from i in nǐ hǎo. Say z like ds and then keep the mouth shape unchaged when saying i.
 
Gěi nín
- g in gěi nín, here you are, is pronounced like g in ’girl’.
 
The tones
- In Mandarin Chinese, there are four tones. Each syllable in isolation (e.g. ma) has its tone, and the same syllables with different tones can mean different things. For example, mā with the first tone means ’mum’, má with the second tone ’linen’, mǎ with the third tone means ’horse’ and mà with the fourth tone ’to swear’. The first tone, represented by ¯ , is high but remains level. The second tone, represented by ´, goes up and is abrupt (raise your eyebrows while saying it). The third tone, represented by ˇ, is a falling-rising tone (drop your chin onto your neck and raise it again). The fourth tone, represented by ˋ, is a falling tone (stomp your foot gently).
 
nǐ hǎo
- i in nǐ sounds like ee in ’need’. When a third tone is followed by another third tone, it changes to a second tone in real speech although it is still marked as a third tone. So, nǐ in nǐ hǎo is pronounced with a second tone ní.
 
nǚ’ér
- ü in nǚ’ér, daughter, is like the u sound in French. But when j, q, x and y precede ü, ü is written without the two dots. For example, u in júzi zhī, orange juice, is still pronounced as ü.
 
qīngcài
- q in qīngcài, vegetables, is pronounced a bit like ch in ’cheese’, but with the tongue further forward.
 
ròu
- r in ròu, meat, is like r in ’roll’ but with the tongue rolled loosely in the middle of the mouth.
 
shì
- sh in shì, to be, and shuō, to speak, is similar to sh in ’shut’.
 
xìng
- There is no sound in English which is similar to the sound x in Chinese. Place the front of your tongue behind the lower front teeth, then let the air pass through. It’s a bit like sh in ’sheep’.
 
zàijiàn
- In zàijiàn, goodbye, the sound z is a bit like ds in ’heads’ and the sound j is similar to g in ’gentle’.

2.language note

bù kèqì
- Kèqì means ’polite’. Bù kèqì literally ’do not be polite’, is the response to xièxie, thank you.
 
chē
- In Chinese, anything with wheels is called chē. For example, qìchē, vehicle, gōnggòng qìchē, public bus, chūzūchē, taxi, zìxíngchē, bicycle, huǒchē, train. All the above words can be shortened to chē. Therefore, depending on the context, chē can mean a car, bus, taxi, bike, or train.
 
Duō shǎo qián?
- Literally, it means ’how much money?’ If you want to be specific, for example, to find out how much yī jīn pútao, half a kilo of grapes, costs, you can put the phrase for ’half a kilo of grapes’ either at the beginning or at the end of the questions: Yī jīn pútao duō shǎo qián? or Duō shǎo qián yī jīn pútao?, lit. how much is it for half a kilo of grapes?
 
èr/liǎng
- èr and liǎng both mean ’two’. èr is used for counting, while liǎng is used to quantify things such as liǎng gè mángguǒ, two mangos.
 
huā chá
- Literally, huā chá means ’flower tea’. Because Jasmine tea is the most famous flower-scented tea, many people use the term huā chá to refer to Jasmine tea.
 
zhāng
- zhāng is a word for measurements that applies to paper and tickets. It is used together with a number, eg. yī zhāng piào, one ticket, liǎng zhāng piào, two tickets.
 
nǐ/wǒ
- nǐ means ’you’ in its singular form and wǒ can mean ’I’ or ’me’.
 
shénme
- Question words such as ’what’ and ’where’ don’t have to begin the sentence. Eg Nǐjiào shénme? What is your name? (lit. you are called what?) or Nǐxìng shénme? What’s your surname? (lit. you are surnamed what?)
 
ma
- This word indicates a question. By adding ma to the end of a sentence, you turn it into a question, eg. Nǐ jiéhūn le ma?, are you married? Ma is a neutral tone. It means that it does not carry a tone.
 
Pinyin
- Chinese characters give no indication of how they are pronounced. A Romanization system called Pinyin was therefore devised in 1958 in China, and has since been adopted as a standard form to represent Chinese sounds.
 
Qǐng lái ...
- A way of ordering in a tea house or restaurant is by saying Qǐng lái ..., Please bring. Please note that the word qǐng, please, is not used as frequently as in English. It never comes at the end of a sentence.
 
qǐng wèn
- Literally it means ’please ask’, but really it’s a polite way of asking a question. It’s equivalent to ’Excuse me’ or ’May I ask ... ?’
 
gè
- This is the most commonly used word when giving measurements. It goes between a number and a noun. For example, sān gè mángguǒ, three mangos.
 
bù
- This is a very important negative word which you can place in front of the word (usually a verb). For example, wǒ bù chī yú means ’I don’t eat fish’. Wǒ bù shuō Zhōngwén means ’I don’t speak Chinese’.
 
huì
- Huì means ’can’ and goes in front of a verb. If you want to ask ’Can you speak English?’, say Nǐ huì shuō Yīngwén ma? If someone asks you Nǐ huì shuō Zhōngwén ma?, Do you speak Chinese?, and you want to say ’Yes’, simply say huì, ’can’. Please note that the Chinese phrases for ’yes’, shì de, and ’no’, bù shì, are not frequently used when answering questions.
 
le
- To indicate that something has already happened you can add le after the verb or at the end of the sentence. For example, wǒ jiéhūn le, I’m already married.
 
méi
- This is a negation word and means ’have not, did not’. It goes before the verb it’s making negative, eg. wǒ méi jiéhūn, I ’have not’ been married.
 
shì
- This verb means ’to be’. Chinese verbs do not change their forms whether it is after wǒ, I, nǐ, you or tā, he/she. For example: Wǒ shì Zhōngguórén, I am Chinese, nǐ shì Zhōngguórén, you are Chinese, and tā shì Zhōngguórén, he/she is Chinese.
 
zài
- Zài means ’at/in’ and goes before the noun. So the sentence Wǒ zài gōngsī gōngzuò literally means ’I in a company work’.
 
Putonghua
- Pǔtōnghuà, literally ’common speech’, is the standard form of the Chinese language and is known as Mandarin Chinese. It is based on the Northern dialect. Putonghua is taught in schools and spoken by TV and radio presenters in China. The Northern dialect has many sub-divisions which are spoken by the majority of the population. The differences between northern sub-divisions are not huge, but the differences between southern dialects are enormous. The major southern dialects are Cantonese, Shanghai dialect, Fujian dialect and Zhejiang dialect. All these dialects share the same script.
 
rén
- Rén means ’person’ or ’people’. If you add rén to the name of a country or city, you form the word for the citizen of that country or the resident of that city. For example, add rén to Yīngguó, Britain, Zhōngguó, China and Běijīng, Beijing, and you get Yīngguórén, British, and Zhōngguórén, Chinese and Běijīngrén, Beijinger.
 
wǎng yòu guǎi
- Literally it means ’toward right turn’, turn right. When someone is giving you directions, watch out of the word wǎng, toward. The next word is important. For example, you may hear wǎng dōng guǎi, turn east or wǎng yòu guǎi, turn right.
 
Yǒu ... ma?
- When you want to ask ’Do you have ... ?’ or ’Is there ... ?’ simply use the construction yǒu ... ma? To ask for rooms in a hotel say Yǒu fángjiān ma? The answer could be yǒu, we have, or méi yǒu, we haven’t. Please note that the Chinese phrases for ’yes’, shì de, and ’no’, bù shì, are not frequently used when answering questions.
 
zhè/zhèi, nà/nèi
- When you’re shopping in China and you’re a little unsure of the language you can always use the common trick of pointing and saying ’this’ or ’that’. The word for ’this’ can be pronounced zhè or zhèi. The word for ’that’ can be pronounced nà or nèi. Both are commonly used.
 
wǒ/wǒde
- By adding de to wǒ, I/me, and nǐ, you, you get words such as wǒde, my, and nǐde, your. If the word following wǒde is a person, not an object, de can be dropped. For example, you can say wǒ nǚ’ér, my daughter, but not wǒ shū, my book. It has to be wǒde shū.

e.g.

好 Hǎo
Good pronunciation note

谢谢 Xièxie
Thank you language note

你说英文吗? Nǐ shuō Yīngwén ma?
Do you speak English?

对不起 Duìbuqǐ
I’m sorry

中国 Zhōngguó
China

男 nán
male (sign for men’s toilet)

女 nǖ
female (sign for women’s toilet)

Pictographs and characters

The earliest writings in Chinese, which can be traced back 3500 years, were pictures carved on oracle bones. They are known as pictographs.

Over the years they developed into characters which are formed of brush or pen strokes.

Altogether, there are about 50,000 characters. In 1950s and 60s, China went through the language reform movement and 2000 characters were simplified. These are known as ’simplified characters’ as opposed to ’complex characters’ (also known as ’traditional form’).

All the characters introduced here are simplified characters. You need around 2000 characters to be able to read and write.

Keyword: Chinese, Basic,